Legend of Loch Ness
"Legend of Loch Ness" was the finale of River Monsters Season 5. The episode featured Jeremy Wade searching for a possible explanation to the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. It is one of the very few episodes that features a legend that is known widely around the world. It also the second episode in Season 5 to have a running time of 80 minutes (120 with commercials). Summary Jeremy Wade has spent years searching secluded backwaters and dense jungles for mysterious monsters that the world never imagined could be explained. However, the Legend of the Loch Ness monster looms larger than any of the others previously featured in River Monsters. Jeremy Wade starts by eliminating unlikely suspects, beginning with the Plesiosaurs. Jeremy finds it hard to believe that a Plesiosaur could live in a lake as secluded as Loch Ness because Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles and needed to breathe air. A Plesiosaur living in Loch Ness would have to surface constatly, and would probably be noticed long ago by scientists, considering how highly scrutinized Loch Ness is. Jeremy continued to eliminate suspects such as the White Sturgeon, based on the fact that the Loch Ness monster of legend was said to be a man hunter. However, Jeremy did learn that most of the people who claim to have seen the monster also claim it looked more like an over turned boat or a "big wave", rather than a long necked Plesiosaur, which Jeremy assumed confirmed his suspicion. Jeremy then suspected that the animal could have entered the Loch through a river called the Moray firth during times of flood, just as Grey Seals are known to have entered the Loch too. However, despite the fact that many massive predators dwell in the waters just outside the firth, none of them were particularly compelling in Jeremy's opinion. However, Jeremy tracked the fatal attack in the Moray firth to legends from the Pictish people who once lived in Scotland. They were inspired by the Nordic peoples, so Jeremy thought it was possible that the Nordic peoples spread the ideas of the so called "Pictish beast" to Scotland, especially considering that engravings similar to the Pictish beast can be found in Scandinavian regions. Also, most experts on the subject agree that the Pictish beast was some for of aquatic creature. Once in Iceland, a land that was once occupied by Nordic warriors, Jeremy located more legends, however, none seemed to originate from a creature powerful enough to kill a person. Jeremy did eventually get to see a four hundred year old map, that showed some of the monsters the Nordic peoples claimed to have encountered. One of them was a cold water shark, one of the largest extant species. Jeremy eventually traveled to the Norwegian Trondheim fjord to fish for a shark that he identified the beast as the Greenland Shark. However, fishing for Sharks on the fjord is considered to be some sort of "coin toss", since the fjord is so large, like a "submerged Grand Canyon". As a winter storm creeped in, Jeremy hooked a shark, however, he was forced to use braided line to reduce the drag. This meant that if the shark's rough skin touched the braid, it would sever the line. Jeremy was able to bring it in. The Greenland shark has a very non-shark like dorsal fin. Rather than being erect, like the popular image of sharks, the Greenland shark has a stubby, flattened fin. In the water, it would look very much like an upturned boat. Jeremy believed the Greenland Shark to be a reasonable explanation for the Loch Ness monster's legend, and perhaps, the creature itself even entered the Loch at some point. Category:River Monsters Category:Season 5 Category:River Monsters Wiki Category:Oceanic Category:Freshwater Category:Fish Category:Toothy fish Category:Sharks Category:Jeremy Wade Category:Northern Hemisphere Category:Europe Category:Episodes Category:Brackish